


Red

by callmecirce



Series: ChloNath AUs [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, F/M, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 20:04:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12871998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmecirce/pseuds/callmecirce
Summary: Natalia just wants to get through University, but Cole keeps getting in the way.  (Nathaneal and Chloe genderswap AU.)





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LazyWorkaholic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWorkaholic/gifts).



> This is another one from the AU series requested by LazyWorkaholic. :)

Natalia slipped quietly into the room and skirted around the outer edge to avoid talking to any of the other students.  It was the first day of her first class of the new semester, and she had only one goal: survive the day without drawing attention to herself.  

When she reached a seat in the back of the room without being waylaid, she blew out a sigh of relief. She could now pull out her sketch pad and busy herself with a sketch, which was usually enough to keep friendly, well-meaning people from bothering her.  She’d noticed several familiar faces in the room; Nina and Adrienne had taken seats near the front and were engaged in a surprisingly heated discussion about anime, while Marin and Alec, who were never far from the two girls, had taken seats just behind them and were ribbing one another good naturedly. They were all nice enough, but all Natalia really wanted was to be left alone.

She opened her book to a random page, found it to be mostly empty, and began doodling to warm up. She started with an idle sketch of Marin, though now it was more out of habit than anything else.  Then she sketched in Alec beside him, both of them relaxed and laughing.  She tilted her head, eyeing her work critically, then glanced up to find a new reference and was startled to see someone standing right next to her desk.

 _Cole.  Damnit_.

Natalia shrank in on herself, and made a sloppy attempt to cover her sketch with her arms.

“Don’t bother, Red, I’ve already seen it,” he muttered, his tone derisive.  “Why are you still drawing Dupain-Cheng anyway?  You know he’s not into you.”

Natalia’s eyes shot to the guy in question, and saw that yes, he had heard Cole’s cruel comment, and yes, he planned to intervene.  Even worse, most of the other people in the class had heard him, as well.

 _Fuck. Attention and humiliation.  Lovely._ Natalia wanted to melt into the floor, but her body remained stubbornly solid.   The next best thing was to go back to drawing as if she didn’t care, so she did that instead.

Since she did care, though, she surreptitiously kept her attention on the testosterone laden conversation about to play out in front of her.

Marin stood, and fixed Cole with a scowl.  “What the fuck, man?  Just leave her alone.”

_Yup, there it is._

Cole leaned one shoulder carelessly against the wall beside him, and crossed his feet at the ankles, the very picture of blithe unconcern. “What?  I only asked a question.”

“You know exactly ‘what’.” Marin’s hand’s curled into fists, and Alec slowly rose to stand with Marin.  “For once, can you at least pretend to be a decent human being?”

Cole’s expression hardened, and he straightened away from the wall.  “Mind your own business, Bread Boy.  I’d hate for something to happen to that precious scholarship of yours.”

Marin paled and then flushed in rapid succession, and Natalia could hear his teeth grinding from where she sat.

“Easy, Mar,” Alex murmured. “He’s not worth it.”

“He’s not, but she is.” He shifted his focus to her, and raised a brow.  “You want to come sit with us, Nat?  The company is much better down here.”

Natalie abandoned her pretense of being absorbed in her sketch, and shook her head.  “No, thanks.  I’m okay here.”

Marin frowned, but didn’t press her.  After tossing another glare at Cole, he returned to his seat and Natalia let out a breath in relief.  Cole would leave when class began, and she’d still be safely tucked in the back.  She picked up her pencil.

“If you prefer my company to his, then why aren’t you drawing me?”

Natalia froze with the tip of her pencil poised over the paper.  His voice had been soft, which she appreciated, but he was still being an ass. “I never said that I prefer your company,” she said just as softly, her eyes still focused on the paper.  Then she caught her breath, surprised by her own boldness.

“You chose to stay here, with me.”

She shook her head at his arrogance, and then surprised herself again.  “I chose to stay in the back of the room.  Your presence was incidental.”  

“Well, well, well.”  To her dismay, he crossed behind her and slid into the seat on her left.  “It seems the mouse has grown claws.”

“Fuck off, Cole.”

“Why don’t you like me?” he asked, suddenly, sounding perplexed.  “Most women like me.”  

Natalia turned slowly to look at him with her mouth hanging open.  “Are you serious?”

“Of course, I’m serious,” he scoffed, scowling. “Why would I have asked, otherwise?”

Natalia gaped at him. He had to be joking.  “Um, how about the fact that you’re an asshole to absolutely everyone?  Or that you’ve never spoken to me without humiliating me?”

He scoffed again.  “That’s not true.”

Natalia stared at him for another moment, then returned to her sketch book with a shake of her head. “If you really think that, Cole, then there is no point to this conversation.”

He’d looked as if he’d wanted to argue, but the professor bustled into the room and launched right into an overview of the class policies and syllabus and not even Cole Bourgeois had the gall to ignore a professor at an institution where his father’s political clout held no sway.

_Thank God._


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fast forward several months, and Cole is throwing a pity party. Natalia is having none of it.

Cole was not happy. 

Usually, when Cole was not happy, he made other people unhappy until his problem was resolved, but that was not working for him anymore.  He was slowly learning that his father had not done him any favors by indulging his every whim as a child, or by shielding him from the consequences of his actions as a teen.  Adrienne had been trying to tell him that for years, but he’d brushed her off on the assumption that she was just jealous.  Her own father had always been cold and demanding, after all, while his father had been warm and generous.

Now, Cole was beginning to see that his father was just as bad as hers, in his own way.  Adrienne had grown up starved for attention and approbation; Cole had been starved for sincerity and affection, and he hadn’t even realized it.

This dawning realization had shone a light on an emptiness that had always been there, beneath the surface, but up until now he’d lived in blissful ignorance of its existence.  Now that he was aware of how empty his life had been, he felt a growing imperative to fill it with something meaningful.  The problem was, he didn’t know anything about ‘meaningful’.

For the first time in his life, there was something he wanted—and he couldn’t have it.  He couldn’t get it by making demands or issuing threats.  Cole Bourgeois, the great scion of the Bourgeois family, who had always been confidently assured of his own place in the world, suddenly was neither confident nor self-assured.   

Cole snorted, and rolled over onto his back to stare sullenly at the ceiling.

“Sulking again, Cole?”

Cole scowled, but didn’t bother to look at the intruder.  “Who let you in?”

“No one.”  Adrienne rolled her eyes and tossed her purse on the sofa.  “I have my own key card, remember?”

Cole sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, so that he could glare at her more effectively.  “Why did I ever think that was a good idea?”

“Because you love me.”  She disappeared into his closet, and returned a moment later with a fresh pair of jeans and a designer button up.  “Now, get up and put your big boy pants on.  We’re going to work on that project with Natalia.”

His glare intensified.  “Fuck Natalia.”  She was the one who had started him on all of this introspective bullshit to begin with.

“Nope,” she called from within his closet.  “We do not have time for your emotional constipation right now.  You can work through your feelings for Nat later.”

“I do not have feelings for Natalia!”

Adrienne re-emerged from his closet with his favorite shoes in her hands, and a faintly pitying look on her face.  She sighed.  “Just get dressed, Cole.  We’re going to be late.”

 

* * *

 

Natalia glanced at her phone, and brightened when she realized that Adrienne and Cole were a solid fifteen minutes late.  Maybe they just wouldn’t show up?  How long did she have to wait before she could legitimately give up and leave?  Maybe—

“Adrienne, I swear to God, if you do not leave this alone...!”

 _Damnit_.  Natalia’s vision of a free morning evaporated. 

“Good morning, Nat!” Adrienne chirped as she set her bag down on the library table.  “Sorry we’re late.”

“It’s alright.”  Natalia slanted a wary look at Cole, who’d stomped up behind Adrienne looking like a thunder cloud.  “Did you guys get your research done?”

“I did, but I think Cole is going to need some help with his.”  Adrienne sat in the chair opposite Natalia’s, and began digging through her bag.  “Sebastien might have thought he was helping by doing all of Cole’s homework in college and lycee, but now…” 

“I’m perfectly capable of doing my own research, Adrienne,” Cole growled, dropping into his seat.  “I just haven’t gotten around to it.”

Natalia shared a look with Adrienne, but both girls forbore to comment.

“What was that?”

Adrienne frowned at him, fingers pausing on the pages of a book.  “What was what?”

“That look!”  Cole’s fists clenched on the table, and Natalia shifted uneasily.  “You don’t think I can do it.  You both think I can’t pull my own weight.”

“That isn’t true, Cole.  We know you can—”

“Don’t fucking patronize me!  I can do the damn research!  I’m not useless!”

Natalia gaped at him, torn between embarrassment at his outburst and surprise at his now obvious vulnerability.  A glance at Adrienne’s expression showed that it mirrored her own.

Adrienne opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again.  “Cole—”

He surged to his feet, knocking his chair to the ground with the violence of his movement.  “Fuck you.”   He snatched up the bag he’d only just set down, and began backing away.  “Fuck this project.  I’m leaving.”  Then he spun on his heel and stormed out of the library, snapping churlishly at some poor guy who didn’t get out of his way fast enough.

Natalia turned slowly to meet Adrienne’s shocked gaze.  “What the hell just happened?”

She blinked, and shook her head.  “I’m not entirely sure.”

“Maybe you should go after him?”

“Actually…”  Adrienne tilted her head and eyed her assessingly.  “I think maybe you should go after him.”

“ **Me?** ”  Adrienne nodded, and Natalia gaped again.  “Oh, no.  No, no, no!  Are you crazy?  He hates me!  And you’re the only one he actually listens to.  Why **me**?”

Adrienne’s lips firmed, and she nodded again.  “Definitely you.  Just trust me.”

Natalia stared at Adrienne in disbelief, and then was surprised to find herself standing.  “Fine.  But if he kills me, I am coming back to haunt you.”

The lovely blond just smiled, her green eyes sparkling.  “I can live with that.”

 

* * *

 

Natalia had no idea why she was doing this.  No matter what Adrienne said, no good could come of Natalia going after Cole.  And honestly, how was she even going to find him?  He was probably halfway back to the hotel by now, driving his stupid fancy car way too fast.  He was probably—

Sitting on the edge of the fountain just outside the library, sulking.  Of course he was. 

She approached him cautiously, fully expecting him to snarl at her.  Instead, he only glanced up at her for a moment, his eyes bleak, and then went back to staring at his hands.

“Did Adrienne send you?”

“Yeah.”

“Brat,” he muttered without heat.  “I’m going to wring her neck.”

What the hell was going on here?  Natalia dithered for a moment, feeling completely at a loss for how to handle this strange, sullen boy who’d taken over Cole’s body.  Then she sighed, and sat gingerly beside him on the ledge.

“So um, that was kind of crazy, back there.”

“Not really.”

She eyed him dubiously.  “How do you figure?”

“What else would you expect from someone who suddenly discovers how useless he is?”

Natalia’s jaw dropped, and she felt anger begin to bubble up inside her.  “Is that what this is?  Some kind of rich kid identity crisis?”  Cole’s head snapped up at her sharp tone and sharper words, and satisfied that she had his attention, she continued.  “You have everything, Cole.  _Everything_.  “Wealth, status, power, intelligence… And in those rare moments when you’re not being an asshole, you’re fucking gorgeous.  Your life could be absolutely anything, anything that you want it to be, and all you have to do it **try**.  Just a little bit.  But do you?  No, instead of actually putting some effort into something other than being an ass, you just throw a fucking temper tantrum like the spoiled rich brat that you are.”  Natalia stood and stared down at him challengingly.  “Grow the fuck up, Cole.  If you don’t like the way things are, change them.”

He said nothing, and she turned back to the library with a scoff.

“Hey, Red!”

She stopped, and turned back to face him.  “What?”

“You think I’m gorgeous?”


End file.
